alt=An orange and black longwing butterfly resting on a green leaf.|thumb|329x329px|Orange-and-black longwing butterfly on leaf

The Heliconiinae, commonly called heliconians or longwings, are a subfamily of the brush-footed butterflies (family Nymphalidae). They can be divided into 45–50 genera and were sometimes treated as a separate family Heliconiidae within the Papilionoidea. The colouration is predominantly reddish and black, and though of varying wing shape, the forewings are always elongated tipwards, hence the common name.

Most longwings are found in the Tropics, particularly in South America; only the Argynnini are quite diverse in the Holarctic. Especially tropical species feed on poisonous plants, characteristically Passifloraceae vines, as larvae, becoming poisonous themselves. The adult butterflies announce their acquired toxicity with strong aposematic colours, warning off would-be predators. There are several famous cases of Batesian and Müllerian mimicry both within this group and with other butterflies. Other commonly seen food plants are Fabaceae (which also contain several toxic species), and particularly among northerly species of Violaceae.

Systematics

Four or five tribes are generally recognized in the Heliconiinae. There have been numerous attempts to sort out the phylogenetic sequence and delimitation of these, but while the former has made good progress, the latter has hitherto only achieved limited results.

Acraeini <small>Boisduval, 1833</small><!-- Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 46 (2008) 515–531 -->

  • Abananote <small>Potts, 1943</small>
  • Actinote <small>Hübner, 1819</small><!-- = homonym Acraea Hübner 1819; = Calornis Billberg 1820 -->
  • Altinote <small>Potts, 1943</small>
  • Acraea <small>Fabricius, 1807</small> (paraphyletic)
  • Bematistes <small>Hemming, 1935</small>
  • Cethosia <small>Fabricius, 1807</small> – lacewings<!-- = Alazonia Hübner 1819; = Eugramma (Billberg, 1820) -->
  • Miyana <small>Fruhstorfer, 1914</small> (tentatively placed here)

Heliconiini <small>Swainson, 1822</small>

  • Agraulis <small>Boisduval & Le Conte, 1835</small>

thumb|right|[[Heliconiini caterpillars:<br/> Julia heliconian (Dryas iulia) (left) and zebra longwing (Heliconius charithonia)]]

  • Dione <small>Hübner, 1819</small>
  • Dryadula <small>Michner, 1942</small> – banded orange
  • Dryas <small>Hübner, [1807]</small> – Julia heliconian
  • Eueides <small>Hübner, 1816</small><!-- ( = invalid name Mechanitis Illiger 1807; = Semelia Doubleday 1845; = Evides Agassiz 1846; = Semelia Erichson 1849; = homonym Semelia (Boisduval, 1870) -->
  • Heliconius <small>Kluk, 1780</small> – brush-foot butterflies
  • Philaethria <small>Billberg, 1820</small><!-- = Metamandana Stichel 1907 -->
  • Podotricha <small>Michener, 1942</small>

thumb|right|[[Vindula|Cruiser butterfly Vindula arsinoe of the Vagrantini]]

thumb|right|[[Leopard lacewing (Cethosia cyane) belongs to the puzzling genus Cethosia]]

Vagrantini <small>Pinratana & Eliot, 1996</small>

  • Lachnoptera <small>Doubleday, 1847</small>
  • Phalanta <small>Horsfield, 1829</small><!-- ( = Atella Doubleday 1847; = Albericia Dufrane 1945) -->
  • Smerina <small>Hewitson, 1874</small>
  • Vindula <small>Hemming, 1934</small> – cruisers
  • Cirrochroa <small>Doubleday, 1847</small>
  • Algiachroa <small>Parsons, 1989</small>
  • Algia <small>Herrich-Schäffer, 1864</small><!-- ( = Paduca Moore 1886; = Ducapa Moore 1900) -->
  • Terinos <small>Boisduval, 1836</small>
  • Cupha <small>Billberg, 1820</small><!-- ( = Messaras Doubleday 1848) -->
  • Vagrans <small>Hemming, 1934</small>

Argynnini <small>Duponchel, 1835</small>

  • Euptoieta <small>Doubleday 1848</small>
  • Pardopsis <small>Trimen, 1887</small> (tentatively placed here)
  • Yramea <small>Reuss 1920</small>
  • Boloria <small>Moore, 1900</small> (including Clossiana)
  • Issoria <small>Hübner 1819</small>
  • Brenthis <small>Hübner 1819</small>
  • Argynnis <small>Fabricius 1807</small>
  • Speyeria <small>Scudder, 1872</small>
  • Fabriciana <small>Reuss, 1920</small>

Footnotes

References

  • (1981). The biology of Heliconius and related genera. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 26: 427–456. <small></small> PDF fulltext
  • (2004). The Butterfly Handbook: 130. Barron's Educational Series, Inc., Hauppauge, New York. <small></small>
  • (2008). Markku Savela's Lepidoptera and some other life forms &ndash; Heliconiinae. Version of 2008-FEB-09. Retrieved 2008-AUG-14.
  • (2008). Phylogenetic relationships of butterflies of the tribe Acraeini (Lepidoptera, Nymphalidae, Heliconiinae) and the evolution of host plant use. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 46(2): 515–531. <small></small> (HTML abstract)
  • (2008). Nymphalidae.net &ndash; The higher classification of Nymphalidae. Retrieved 2008-AUG-14.

Further reading

  • Van Zandt Brower, A. (1994). Phylogeny of Heliconius butterflies inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences. Mol. Phylogenet. Evol. 3:159-174. and other papers.
  • Glassberg, Jeffrey Butterflies through Binoculars, The West (2001).
  • Guppy, Crispin S. and Shepard, Jon H. Butterflies of British Columbia (2001).
  • James, David G. and Nunnallee, David Life Histories of Cascadia Butterflies (2011).
  • Pelham, Jonathan Catalogue of the Butterflies of the United States and Canada (2008).
  • Pyle, Robert Michael The Butterflies of Cascadia (2002).
  • Tree of Life Heliconiinae
  • Heliconius Butterfly Website
  • Heliconius Genomics Project
  • Information about Heliconius
  • Heliconius charitonia, zebra longwing on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
  • Butterflies and Moths of North America
  • Butterflies of America